Seven Radiant Reasons to Give Yoga a Chance

Everything You’ve Wanted to Know About Yoga But Were Too Afraid To Ask

Everyone from your dentist to your mother seems to be doing some kind of yoga these days. You are perhaps intrigued, but where do you start? And what does all of it mean? Yoga literally means “Union” the connection of the mind, body, and breath. The Vinyasa Style, popularized by celebrities, gyms, and Madonna’s incredible biceps, links movement (poses) with the breath. There are a hundred different poses, each one asking the body to move or pause in a way that builds muscle, while engaging her to stretch and lengthen simultaneously. Combined with a clear, calming, and energizing breath, the body finds movement, the mind finds stillness, and the practice leads not only to an improvement of your entire physical being, but to a state of mindful bliss. Why not give that a try? Photo: Getty Images

Let’s Get Physical

In the style of Vinyasa Flow, the body is moving through a series of poses that are specifically designed to target every muscle in the body. The practice begins with Sun Salutations, a series of postures that build heat, strength, waking up the mind, the body, and the heart. The constant flow is a cardiovascular exercise, the poses ask the muscles to tone and lengthen, aligning the bones, improving posture, digestion, reducing stress, anxiety, all the while focusing on the breath. Photo: Getty Images

Waking Up is Hard to Do

Who pops up every morning without an alarm clock looking like a cheery Orange Juice commercial? Not most of us, that is for sure. We wake up with still necks and sore backs and march directly to the Coffee Maker. My beautiful teacher, Stacey Brass, who specialized in the technique, Restorative Yoga, explains that when a body is in a state of discomfort while sleeping, the brain will wake the body up and shift. When we are completely and utterly exhausted, that shift does not happen and we continue to sleep in a position that causes pain. Stretching the body in the evening, while calming the mind, allows you to settle into a deeper, more effective sleep, by releasing tension and producing endorphins before you hit the hay. Photo: Getty Images

Reader’s Digest

Life is a laundry basket full of stresses that need washing and ironing and constant care. We care for our families, our neighbors, our co-workers. We know how to take care of our outer selves, but what about our inner selves, namely, those internal organs that form our digestive journey, that don’t always cooperate exactly how we’d like them to? In yoga, digestion is a popular topic, as the ancient yogis knew that could judge how well a body was functioning based on its fuel usage, if you will. In Vinyasa Yoga, we warm up the midsection with abdominal work and then we twist. These midsection twisting poses heat the internal organs, wringing them out like a dishcloth, thoroughly detoxifying the body. Try it tonight, a couple of hours after dinner. You’ll know its working. Photo: Getty Images

Put a Little Love in Your Heart

In the Vinyasa Yoga Asanas (Sanscrit for poses) each pose is either a forward bending pose, a moment of reflection and internal strength or a heart opener, a stretching, open, externally focused movement. By using these physical shapes to explore and express yourself, you are creating space for change to occur. Try a simple heart-opener like cow pose when you feel as though your heart needs some light. Maybe it sounds hokey, however the mind and body relationship is a powerful force. How does your head feel when the body is ill or injured? Of course you are mentally affected by your physical state. The Yoga practice has no perfect pose to master, there is always something new. The goal is to connect the mind and body, opening up the places we ignore, dusting off the cobwebs in the corners of our minds, and sending the breath, energy and light to every inch of the body. Yoga is a journey to Bliss and in so many ways, a lesson in the language of love which brings us to… Photo: Getty Images

Fear and Loathing in Stretchy Pants

So you have tried a couple of yoga classes, you are a half an hour into one and the instructor in teaching a pose that you hate. As you struggle into this shape, the mind begins to race, and perhaps you clench your teeth and hold your breath. It happens to the best of us. However, these moments of personal struggle encapsulate infinite opportunities to learn about how we personally deal with pain, uncomfortable situations, and fear. Yoga is a practice focused on the breath. So you take a deep inhale, exhale, and surrender to the shape. If you stick with the practice, you will amaze yourself. Your body will move in ways you never thought possible. Off the mat, in situations that conjure up the emotional equivalent of turning yourself into a pretzel, you learn to breath, to react from a more centered place, engaging with the moment rather than waging a war with it. Photo: Getty Images

Upside Down and Inside Out

Inversions are the poses in which our head is below our hearts. This can mean anything from a forward bend to a handstand. These poses often times invoke a huge amount of fear. Why is that and why do we do them? First of all, there is a reason that the phrase “turning your world upside down” means being in a situation where the familiar is unfamiliar which is, in one word, scary. However, the yoga practice has many steps, so many poses to practice, to make inversions available to every body. You will find that the challenge of going upside down can have some of the most liberating effects on your mind. Being able to initiate that position on the mat can help you learn how to deal with those disorienting situations in life off of the mat. Photo: Getty Images

All You Need is Love

Some yoga classes feel like a gym workout, others focus on meditation, chanting, heart opening, or invoking certain kinds of strength and energy. What they all have in common however, is focusing on the breath and finding a sense of joy in the poses. Yoga is for everyone. You might think that you are not flexible enough, or strong enough but as long as you can breathe, those other elements just fall into place. The challenge is to find love in these moments of discomfort, to learn how to be with yourself when life is less than perfect, and to truly enjoy the parts that make you happy, all the while dropping a couple of jean sizes. Sounds pretty good, right? Photo: Getty Images